Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD)

Interstitial lung diseases (ILD) are more than 300 different conditions with similar symptoms. According to the European Respiratory Society, “Only about one in three cases of interstitial lung disease has a known cause.” Different ILDs present very different risks: “Survival rates at 5 years range from 20% for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis [IPF] to almost 100% for cryptogenic organizing pneumonia.”

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) includes over 100 disorders with varying treatments and prognoses. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is according to the Cleveland Clinic the second most common ILD. IPF has a poor prognosis: “The majority of patients die of progressive fibrosing lung disease within 4 years of diagnosis.”